Tough to leave Ben and our cottage on the Hood Canal

Left pretty early Tuesday morning for our trip home.  First flight took us to Charlotte, NC, then onto Harrisburg.  We had a nice dinner last night with Ben and Natalie then we all went to he cottage for one last brew.  Matt, Ben's roommate, also came over to wish us goodbye.  Thanks to all who may have followed my blog at sometime during our trip.  Take care,, Jim and Sheila.

Finally - Over to Seattle on the ferry!

We left fairly early this morning and caught the Bremerton ferry to Seattle.  Since it was a clear morning we hiked to the short monorail and rode to the Space Needle, erected in 1962 for the World's Fair.  Located adjacent to the "needle" were the Chihuly Glass Museum and Garden which were hard to capture in photos because of their details and color brillance.  After lunch we visited the famous Pike Street Market, directly across from the first "Starbucks" in the U.S.  Our 12,000 step day ended with a return ferry ride and a dinner out with Ben and Natalie.  I'm including numerous photos from today's activities which may follow the above text but, if not, you can tell it was a beautiful day in Seattle.

Port Angeles

We headed up the Washington coast today (Ben, Sheila, and Jim) with all intentions of crossing the Straits of Juan de Fuca by ferry to the city of Victoria, BC, on Vancouver Island.  The weather was fairly overcast so we scrapped that plan and, instead, drove up along Crescent Lake and entered the Olympic National Park at Sol Duc.  There we went for a nice one mile hike back into that enormous forest to view the Sol Duc Falls and the old lodge and hot springs in that area.  Here's a few photos from downtown Port Angeles and I've also included a shot I took at the Naval Undersea museum the other day, I never knew that the USN named a dive suit after me, perhaps for my 4 years of service back in the late 60's?  Take care.

Crabbing on the Hood Canal

We launched Ben's boat around 1pm and spent much of the day dropping and retrieving his three crab cages.  We weren't as successful as we were a few days ago, only got five for all our efforts.  You can only keep male crabs of a certain size, all females and undersized males are tossed back in.  I have several photos of Ben's boat and a low tide shot from the cottage.

Cottage Cookout

Had a nice evening cooking outside at our cottage with Ben, Natalie, and Ben's great neighbors.The highlight was dessert with Sheila's handpicked blackberries which she made into a tasty syrup for cake and ice cream, the marinated chicken and red potatoes were good, too.Most of yesterday was a little iffy but by picnic time it turned beautiful again. I went for a kayak expedition up the coast for about a mile, beautiful homes nestled into the shoreline everywhere. Woke up this morning to a very low tide, tried to get a photo of the drastic change (sometimes up to 17 feet) from high to low tide. Have a good day.

Poulsbo

It wasn't such a nice day today, more like a typical NW one. We traveled a little way up the area from Ben's and went to the little town harbor town of Poulsbo. Walked around their Main Street, had some goodies from the bakery, and snapped a few shots. Then went to "foody" heaven, aka The Central Market, where Sheila stocked up on Seattle chocolates. Final visit was to the US Naval Undersea Warfare museum near Keyport, WA. Forget to mention that earlier this morning S went on a berry hunting safari and came back with quite a few. Photos attached for some of these activities.

Sidetrip to Sequim, WA

Today was beautiful here on the Hood Canal.  Went for an early morning walk and came back with a bowl of blackberries, plentiful along our course so Sheila will be heading back for more tomorrow.  Took a roadtrip north to Sequim, WA, where we visited the Olympic animal preserve.  I've included several shots showing a fairly large Yak trying to get a piece of bread (must be wheat only), and a group of fairly large bison. On the way back home we stopped in Port Gamble (photo) where Sheila visited a quilt shop we've been to before.  After a long day we got a chance to use the hot tub which sits out on the edge of the back patio of the cottage we're staying at.  Have a good evening.

Good spot for a morning coffee.

Weather was pretty clear this morning so I thought I'd get up a little earlier than usual and have a cup of joe on the patio, quite a beautiful, serene spot, only the sounds of water fowl and the Hood Canal lapping at the shoreline.

Cottage on the Hood Canal

We checked into our little cottage that sits right on the shoreline of the Hood Canal, not too far from the marina in Seabeck, WA, near Ben's place.  Although just a little place, the view can't be beat.  I've attached some photos that I took from our outside patio.  We're here for 8 days, Ben's working until Thursday of this week and then the three of us are headed up to Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Crosby Days

Yesterday we spent much of the day with Ben and his friend, Natalie, at Crosby Days, a small town near Seabeck which has a community parade and fair every August including activities such as tree felling, climbing, a small auto show, lawn mower racing, and hi and low-tech lumber cutting contests.  I'm including photos from a general store along the Seabeck docks and several from the logging events, one of which shows two operators lifting a 450lb V-8 engine attached to a 6ft chainsaw, it cut thru a 20inch log in 3 seconds!!  Heavy and noisy but fast!!  Ended the day with a great seafood feast at Ben's neighbors with King Salmon and prawns all harvested from the Hood Canal.  Hope to go crabbing today on the canal.  Have a good day.

Arrived in Seattle, then onto Seabeck

The train to East Glacier was nearly 3 hours late but we did catch up an hour on the way to Seattle, passing thru the New Cascade Tunnel, about five miles long.  Got to Seattle around noon, grabbed our car, and made it on the ferry to Bremerton by 1:40pm.  Found our B&B, the Willcox House, around 3pm.  It sits high on a heavily wooded bluff above the Hood Canal, a beautiful "retro" looking house built in the 1930's, it had a feeling like we noticed when we first visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water residence a few years ago.  Some of the same modern window designs and hidden pocket doors, very retro bathrooms, a very nice home.  Several of the photos show the property including the gatehouse on the way in.

Headed to Seattle

The Empire Builder came into East Glacier almost three hours late (still due to the slowdown in N. Dakota). We had spent much of the day in the lodge just relaxing.  I'm attaching one photo of the sunset from the back balcony of the lodge.  Fell asleep fairly quickly last night, got early showers and made it to breakfast at 6:30am this morning.  Still traveling through western Washington, will soon be headed in the Cascade Mountain range.  Looking forward to seeing Ben.  Will post again later today.  Have a good day, Jim & Sheila.  Conductor just mentioned that we'll soon be going through the Cascade Tunnel which, I believe, is nearly 5 miles in length.

A "Jammer"

Finally got a photo of one of the 36 Red Jammers that were introduced in Glacier NP back in the mid to late 1930's.  All rebuilt in 2002, they are seen all over the park, usually with the top down if it's nice.  On our return from the Prince of Wales we had ours down for almost the entire trip (2.5 hrs).  For car buffs, they all have 5.7L hemis in them.  We leave GNP tomorrow, will be sad to leave but have many good memories of this beautiful park.  Until tomorrow, have a good night.  Guess I could mention that today we
drove all the way over to Whitefish Ski Resort and went through their "Walk in the Treetops", a 700 foot set of planks and steel cables at heights up to 70 feet wearing harnesses and dual clamping nylon ropes in case you fell off the walkway, had a good time with that little "adventure'.  Good night again!

Onto Waterton, the Canadian side of Glacier

Today was an adventure!  We traveled in a 1937 Ford vehicle which they refer to as "Jammers".  They were built for Glacier to carry tourists and have been reconditioned in 2002 to meet modern specs.  They carry 16 passengers, five bench seats, and doors on one side only, and the whole thing becomes a convertible with a little work.  I'll attach a shot of one in a later post.  Our destination today was the Prince of Wales Hotel up in Waterton, across the international boundary with Canada.  We went to their high tea which was a highlight of the trip for the Sheila.  I've attached a photo of us on the bluff in front of the hotel overlooking Waterton Lake.  This was an all-day excursion so we were pretty worn out upon our return.  Another photo I've included is of Chief Mountain, a most revered peak of the Blackfeet Indian Nation who once inhabited this whole area of Montana.  Tomorrow we drive to a ski area called Whitefish and do their "walk in the treetops" tour, swinging bridges that they've built up in their treetops, wish us luck!  Goodnight from Glacier NP.